Hi everyone! I'm currently working on a paper for a seminar of my Master's Degree in Ancient History. The seminar is called "Weapons and societies: Pre-Classical World" and so my paper must reflect at least one of this two aspects. I'm thinking about the role of Sekhmet in the Egyptian army, assuming there was one. I know there are a lot of references about the pharaohs thanking Monthu but I'm looking for something about the lioness goddess. My teacher told me that at Kadesh, Ramesses II invoked the name of Sekhmet but other than that e says he can't help me, even told me that probably I wouldn't be able to work on such a paper.
I'm also looking for some kind of Political Theology concerning the war and the Goddess, exploring if this connection existed and in what ways took part on Ancient Egyptian campaigns and army spirit of victory (in a psychological way).
Finally, it would be good to explore the weapons and war equipment, looking for something connected to the lioness goddess, maybe some shileds bearing her name or drawings of lions/lionesses in weaponry.

Can anyone give me some help? I'm very insecure about the information I can find, and I don't know if maybe this isn't a thesis instead of a paper for a seminar. Thank you and sorry if I wrote too much

OEB 49643 (AEB 2002.0047) : "In this book are drawn together the history and description ofweapons and warfare as well as the military activities of the king of Egypt, from the earliest dynastic times until the Roman Period. It begins in ch. 1 by identifying the friends and enemies of Ancient Egypt through time and then describes in ch. 2 the weapons and military equipment: the materials used, the various types of weapons such as maces, spears, axes, bows and daggars, other military equipment such as shield, armour and chariots, thereby showing how they developed over time and how foreign innovations such as the use of horse and chariot were eargerly adopted and adapted. After ch. 3 on the gods of war, the author turns in ch. 4 to the army, dealing with thetraining of recruits, the composition and organisation of the army, military dress, campaigning and the perils of a soldier's life. Ch. 5 is concerned with fortifications and siege warfare. In ch. 6 the author presents a historical survey of campaigns and battles from the Predynastic Period to the Graeco-Roman period, with due attention to the more famous ones, such as the campaigns of Tuthmosis III, Ramses II's battle of Qadesh and Ramses III's struggle with the Sea Peoples.

With final remarks in ch. 7 on the fact that the legacy of Ancient Egypt would have lesser, if it had not had a military machine, bibliography, and index."

Patridge supposed to have also a collection of sources and further reading?

Thank you so much for your help! I will start reading and dig deeper in the subject. I'm having trouble finding dome of the books/articles, I only found the last two thesis but I think a more specific search will help me! Thank you again!

Unfortunately you give not your residence. Then perhaps I could help with the search... The book by Sigrid-Eike Hoenes I have in my private library. An electronic version is offered from the HathiTrust Digital Library.

Yes, the "HathiTrust Digital Library" is unfortunately accessible for the most part only about American universities. Maybe someone from the U.S. here in this forum can help out? Pages 67 - 82 from Sigrid-Eike Hoenes : Untersuchungen zu Wesen und Kult der Göttin Sachmet (1976) would be nice...

If you send me an e-mail address over the PM function here in the forum I can send you a scan from the entry "Sachmet" in "Lexikon der Ägyptologie" (V, 1984, Col. 323 - 333). But this one is also in German...

Thank you Lutz and neseret! I'm having some trouble finding most of the books but I'm not giving up that easily As far as I searched, Hoenes's book is going to be hard to find since it's not for sale anywhere I looked for. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to meet someone from the U.S. that would download the book from the HaitiTrust Digital Library and send it to me.

Now the thing is, my teacher is not very keen of my paper. That really scares me and it's not very encouraging, since all the other papers have been enthusiastically accepted. I'll keep on searching and reading

PS: Lutz I'm sending you a PM with my email, if you really don't mind sending me the scan of Sekhmet's entry in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie.

"Fighting Pharaohs - Weapons and Warfare in Ancient Egypt" is availeable for around 20,- € (incl. shipping) and is certainly even after you finished your paper of interest... I have send you the article from the "LÄ", the autor is Heike Sternberg, University Göttingen.